Hard butter including cacao butter is widely used in foods such as confectionery products involving chocolates and bread products, pharmaceutical products, cosmetics, or the like. The above hard butter consists primarily of triglycerides having one unsaturated bond in a molecule such as 1,3-dipalmitoyl-2-oleoyl-glycerol (POP), a triglyceride having an oleoyl group on the second position and each one group of a palmitoyl group and a stearoyl group (POS), and 1,3-distearoyl-2-oleoyl-glycerol (SOS). Further, triglycerides having two unsaturated bonds in a molecule such as 1,3-distearoyl-2-linoleoyl glycerol (SLS) which has good quality as a chocolate tempering agent are also known.
Generally, these triglycerides can be obtained as natural fats and oils containing such compound(s), e.g. palm oil, shea butter, sal fat, and illipe butter; or as fractionated oils thereof.
Further, other than the triglycerides obtained as fractionated oil of fats and oils such as palm oil, shea butter, sal fat, and illipe butter, it is proposed that such triglycerides can also be obtained by the method which comprises the steps of reacting 1,3-selective lipase to specific fats and oils; and transesterifing them to produce the triglycerides (Patent Literatures 1 to 5).
In each of the above methods, fractionation is conducted to obtain an end product (Patent Literatures 6 to 16). However, it has been desired to provide more effective and more industrially suitable fractionation and production methods of fats and oils which are rich in a triglyceride (XOX fat) having a saturated fatty acid residue on each of the first and third positions and an oleoyl group on the second position.
Patent Literature 1:JP-A 55-071797
Patent Literature 2:JP-B 03-069516
Patent Literature 3:JP-B 06-009465
Patent Literature 4:WO96/10643
Patent Literature 5:WO03/000832
Patent Literature 6:WO2005/063952
Patent Literature 7:WO2004/029185
Patent Literature 8:JP-B 01338696
Patent Literature 9:JP-B 02013113
Patent Literature 10:JP-B 02042375
Patent Literature 11:JP-A 63-258995
Patent Literature 12:JP-B 02056898
Patent Literature 13:JP-A 02-080495
Patent Literature 14:JP-B 03588902
Patent Literature 15:JP-A 11-080776
Patent Literature 16:JP-A 2004-123839